New Beer Weekend #24

Good afternoon and happy New Year NBW'ers. Inspired by @Roguer 's first beer this weekend, I decided to also start my weekend off with Mast Landing Brewing Company - Gunner's Daughter Milk Stout.


Pours a dark brown color. Completely opaque, but not particularly thick in appearance. Initially there is a huge frothy head that forms on the beer, but it pretty steadily dissipates leaving, ultimately, just a thin layer of foam on top of the beer. Overall it looks about what you'd expect from a milk stout. The aroma is immediately noticeable for a salty, peanut aroma that is noticeable when the can is opened. Up close, you get notes of chocolate, peanut butter, salty peanuts, vanilla, and a hint of coffee. The peanut butter really dominates the aroma, but the other notes are certainly discernible. The aromas are all quite aromatic and robust.

For as robust as the aromas are, the flavor is surprisingly lackluster ... there are some light roasted malts, peanut butter, vanilla and coffee with some chocolate, but everything is muddled together for lack of a better term. That being said, in some ways that is what keeps this stout drinkable and pretty light on its feet. Feel is very thin, light, and somewhat watery. Light, smooth carbonation.

Overall this is a solid milk stout. I enjoyed drinking it, and would certainly drink it again. I think I feel somewhere in the middle on this - I don't think its as outstanding as some reviewers, but it wasn't a below average stout by any means either.

 

Illuminated Brew Works -- Astronaut Eye Scream (DDH DIPA w/lactose)



4.04/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Deep, opaque orange body, like orange juice; incredibly thick and sticky white head, dense and creamy. A very pleasing pungent citrus aroma; light dose of vanilla. Mild citrus taste, primarily orange; vanilla and coconut suggestions; huge hop bitterness; noticeable alcohol presence. Heavy body; smooth and creamy texture; boozy warmth to offset the residual sugar body; moderately acidic; semi-dry overall.

This beer style is not a go-to thing for me, but I do find this particular beer to be very enjoyable, especially with the orange and lactose elements coming into play. The beer is big, juicy, and boozy. It hits the spot...

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...first beer after my first leg of my journey back to Ohio...holed up in my hotel, waiting for some Chinese fried chicken wings and Mongolian beef as snow crews clear the motel parking area...

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...I brought a few beers with me from Colorado that I needed to knock off...this was one of them, and I probably have one or two others that I'll have tomorrow in Terre Haute...

...I need to clear out some of my CO stash because I'm bound to bring back some MI, OH, and IN beers on this journey...it's a labor of beer love...

 

Oddly, I found the mouthfeel and body to be relatively thick, considering the low ABV. Then again, I also consumed mine at room temperature. Easily the thinnest of the three stouts I had today, but also literally less than half the ABV of either.

 

Next new beer: Kirta, a Dunkles Weissbier from Graminger Weissbräu. Part of the beer advent calendar, and clocking in at a modest 5.4% ABV.



As you can see, this is on the lighter side of the Dunkelweizen color spectrum. The BA notes suggest that toasted malts lead the way on the nose, and that was exactly what I noticed: limited notes of banana and citrus, but quite a bit of pumpernickel, cola, and prune.

Very similar on the palate, albeit a bit sweeter. Very bready and doughy. The mouthfeel is impressively creamy and smooth; it actually would benefit from just a little more carbonation bite, as there's almost none.

Very enjoyable bier! Nothing off about it from start to finish.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/6212/114140/?ba=Roguer#review
3.78 / +2.2%

 

Hmm ... In my head I was comparing it to similar low ABV stouts - i.e. Guinness or Left Hand milk stout - and compared to those mine seemed on the thinner side ...

 

Today seems to be a day for new stouts, and I've got one more: 7 Layer Stout, a 5.5% milk stout with a complex malt bill and rested on vanilla beans.



I really went back and forth with this one, even through the sip. At first, I thought it was too thin and watery, but the lactose really helps and by mid-sip I've changed my mind: it's creamy and, for the ABV, fairly full bodied.

I felt much the same about the flavor. There's a wonderfully chocolatey sense to the whole thing, to the point that you'd almost expect it was aged on cacao instead of vanilla - and the vanilla is mostly not present until the slightly dry, roasty finish. Light char, mildly sweet. It doesn't really stand out as special, but then when I reflect on it, it's delicious - it's exactly the kind of modest ABV stout I'd love to have on tap instead of, say, Guinness.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39382/162101/?ba=Roguer#review
3.92 / -4.4%

That will do it for today, I think.

Cheers!

 

Alright, so I'm doing something a bit different this evening. I was going to review KBS - Maple Mackinac Fudge, but decided to pour a glass of CBS along with it for the review to compare and contrast. CBS is not new to me, but I have apparently never actually reviewed it on here, so it will be a new review.


Founders KBS Maple Mackinac Fudge v. Founders CBS

Appearance: CBS is dark brown, essentially black. Shiny, completely opaque, and viscous. Huge khaki colored head forms with an aggressive pour. Once formed, the head slowly begins to collapse until a thin layer of foam remains on top of the beer. Lots of tan lacing remains on the glass. KBS-MMF is dark black, opaque, shiny, and pretty thick and viscous. Huge dark brown colored head forms with an aggressive pour before slowly collapsing as it dissolves. A thin layer of velvety brown foam remains on top of the beer. Lots of sticky lacing covers the glass as the beer is consumed.
They are essentially the same in appearance other than the head on the KBS-MMF being a bit darker.

Aroma: CBS has notes of coffee, roasted malts, a touch of pine, with notes of oak, bourbon, smoke and a sweet tantalizing hint of maple coming through. Balanced is what comes mind to describe this aroma. KBS-MMF is absolutely dominated by this rich chocolate fudge aroma. The are more subtle notes of coffee, maple syrup, and roasted malts. What I'm not getting is any barrel - the chocolate really just dominate and in effect overshadows any barrel notes. The word that comes to mind with the KBS-MMF is brash - this is punching you in the nose with that fudge aroma and at no point will you forget it.

Taste: CBS has some nice roasted malts up front, bourbon, oak, a touch of pine and lots of coffee come through up front. At some point, the palate suddenly picks up this subtle, but noticeable sweet maple note. The bourbon comes through on the back end with some heat. Again, the coffee, the maple, the base stout and the barrel aging is all present, all noticeable, but no one component dominates the flavor profile. KBS-MMF is initially dominated by straight liquid fudge. Mackinac fudge - oh yes, just liquified and put in this beer. Obviously, given that fact, its pretty sweet. Beyond that fudge, you do get some coffee, roasted malts, a touch of maple, and a warming heat on the back end that discloses the bourbon barrel aging - the bourbon and oak doesn't come through as much as I want, but it is there on the back end.
You know, the big difference between these beers is the addition of the super sweet chocolate fudge in the KBS-MMF, other than that they are actually relatively similar beers.

Feel: CBS is medium to full bodied. Really smooth with moderate carbonation. Somewhat drier on the finish. KBS-MMF is full bodied. Smooth, slick presence with moderate carbonation.

Overall: A couple of thoughts. First, CBS is a beer that is remarkably good, but I think that these days it does not get the credit or accolades that it once did in large part due to what I think its is greatest "virtue" - balance. Its got barrel aging, coffee, maple, but it lets each component shine without outshining any of the others. KBS-MMF on the other hand is much more in line with the avant garde pastry stouts that just punch you in the mouth with their brashness. They're sweet, they're there and you will never be allowed to forget what flavors are listed on the can. In that sense I think KBS-MMF is the perfect beer for this time, but to me, is a far lesser beer than CBS. Second, I was surprised at how similar these beers were once you get past the fudge in the KBS-MMF. The maple in the KBS is, ultimately pretty similar to the maple in CBS. They both have coffee, and those components end up being far more similar than they are dissimilar.

 

I missed that! Don't venture into the WBAYDN thread very much these days...

I will say, the first time I had MMF alone, I found it to be sweet, but not unpleasantly so ... having it against CBS, the sweetness really stood out. I'm sure if I had it against one of these uber sweet pastry stouts, it wouldn't seem as sweet, but in this context it did come across as pretty sweet.